The MSI 990FXA-GD80

When we flip the board around we stumble into the processor area. Spacious enough, you should have no issues with most CPU heatsinks.

Other than that, fairly clean looks surround the AM3+ socket alright. I can not stress this enough: Socket AM3 Phenom II and Athlon II processors can be used in/on this motherboard -- hence we use a Phenom II X4 980 BE series processor today.

Right behind the rear IO we spot one 8-pin CPU power header, which is plenty for Phenom II and 125 Watt TDP based processors.

Components wise we see only quality really, solid capacitors, solid core chokes, quality components and nothing else, which ensures stability -- but also reliability and extended lifespan. There are 4 x DIMM support with a maximum of 32 GB, 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory.

Overall board design is just great. Everything is positioned really well and is at the proper location. Memory is easy to install, the ATX power connector is in the right place. Let's zoom in to the lower right corner for a minute.